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WikiLeaks founder's Twitter account briefly vanishes

ASSANGE. This file photo taken on February 5, 2016 shows WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange coming out on the balcony of the Ecuadorian embassy to address the media in central London. File photo by Ben Stansall/AFP

Several online news outlets reported on the disappearance of the account of the WikiLeaks founder, which reappeared after more than 12 hours of being unavailable. The disappearance trended on Twitter, but soon after the account reappeared, initially with only a portion of his followers. The followers returned, however, a few hours after the account's restoration.

According to Gizmodo, Assange's account last tweeted on Friday, December 22, before its momentary disappearance. The WikiLeaks Twitter account was untouched entirely, and never disappeared.

The WikiLeaks account also tweeted about the incident shortly after:

Despite some oddities from the US Navy and Twitter today and increased physical surveillance @JulianAssange's physical situation at the embassy remains unaltered--confined without charge in violation of two UN rulings requiring the UK to set him free.https://t.co/ne7cQ2Uryw

Assange, an Australian, has been staying in Ecuador's embassy in London since 2010, living in fear of being extradited to the United States for the exposés that his site has published through the years.

Twitter has not published its statement on the momentary disappearance of the high-profile account. A similar incident happened last November when US President Donald Trump's Twitter account also momentarily vanished. – Rappler.com

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Welcome to Rappler, a social news network where stories inspire community engagement and digitally fuelled actions for social change. Rappler comes from the root words "rap" (to discuss) + "ripple" (to make waves).